Palace coup: How Iger outmanoeuvred Chapek, returned to power at Disney

At 5 pm on February 25, 2020, Bob Chapek and Bob Iger settled into matching directors’ chairs on the Disney studio lot for a series of live media interviews. The company had just shocked pretty much everybody by announcing that the little-known Chapek would be replacing the wildly popular Iger as chief executive.

In an interview with Julia Boorstin of CNBC, Chapek fawned over his predecessor. “I obviously have huge shoes to fill,” he said with wide eyes, hailing Iger’s “magic” running Disney. Iger’s 15-year tenure as chief executive had been so successful that he had considered running for president as a Democrat. Queen Elizabeth II knighted him just before she died.